Arctic ice melting at 'amazing' speed, scientists find

I haven't posted in ages but I came across this and thought it was worthy of posting

This is a rather scary article on the BBC news website stating that the ice melt this year is officially scaring the scientists...

"this is unprecedented in at least as much as 1,500 years. It is truly amazing - it is a huge dramatic change in the system,"

This is beginning to feel like tipping point to me. What with the seemingly increasing earthquake action, extreme weather and general bonkerness 2012
might still prove to be a really important year.

"It is a greater change than we could even imagine 20 years ago, even 10 years ago," Dr Holmen said. BBC Map "And it has taken us by surprise and
we must adjust our understanding of the system and we must adjust our science and we must adjust our feelings for the nature around us."

"As a scientist, I know that this is unprecedented in at least as much as 1,500 years. It is truly amazing - it is a huge dramatic change in the
system," Dr Hansen said. "This is not some short-lived phenomenon - this is an ongoing trend. You lose more and more ice and it is accelerating -
you can just look at the graphs, the observations, and you can see what's happening."

I agree that it seems like we are at a tipping point, or more likely already past it. Get ready for the anti-climate change posts to start rolling in
with the whole 'natural earth cycle' arguments. While I know that Earth does go through regular cycles, we must be doing something that is
accelerating climate change. It really doesn't have to be one or the other - it is both.

I don't get this argument sometimes. Seems like a lot of people refuse to accept responsibility for what we are doing to the planet, but then again
refusing to accept responsibility seems to be a common occurrence in today's society!

It certainly is. I too find it an odd situation that we're responsible for pumping out massive amounts of toxic pollution into the very air we
breathe, yet some people raise their eyebrow and point fingers claiming it's all a lie, and that it's best if we just get used to wearing shorts in
winter.

Regardless if it is man caused, man helped or completely natural, as a species we must either get off the road OR get run over. It's almost as if the
people who have a jolly good old belly laugh about how deluded people who think climate change is real are, think that for some reason the Earth owes
them a life. She'll be right maaate, mother nature loves us. We're HUMAN after all, not some measly pesky animal and boy aren't they tasty to eat!

I envision a huge dam wall, springing leaks everywhere, with a handful of people poking their fingers in the leaks, all the while behind them some fat
pig sits dripping with sweat, eating out of a bucket of swill and snorting "Fools, fools all of them." while trying to keep his alligator shoes out of
the puddles.

Hi - I dont dispute the cyclical nature of our environment at all, I agree with it. I totally accept it's happened before and will again.

The point I think here is really that this is happening now, this feels like proper, big change. Just because it's happened before doesn't mean
it's going to be any easier for us to ride it out. The more of this stuff I read about the closer I get to going and buying in a whole load of
supplies and preparing for some serous white knuckle ride s**t

I think the next couple of years could be pretty crazy... but then again maybe things will balance out. we will see I guess

I remember when I was a kid people used to argue about this, how it will happen, if it will, why and when.. now I'm 20 years old and the speed at
which this process is happening is unprecedented! This will change the face of the earth and our lives forever.

The Universe has a natural cycle of events, Our galaxy has a natural cycle of events, our solar system has a natural cycle of events, our planet has a
natural cycle of events, our sun has its own natural cycle of events that also influence the earth to a greater or lesser degree dependent upon many
factors, one of which is, where both of those are in their own cycles.

The weather has natural cycles of events, our Icesheets have natural cycles of events and if you were 10,000 years old you would be saying, so what?,
it happens.

These changes are happening and will get worse, that's my point. Just because its happened before doesn't mean it wont have huge implications on our
lives now, and our children's lives and their children's lives..

Originally posted by The X
Oh noes nature is doing its thing, OMG it's all our fault.

The Universe has a natural cycle of events, Our galaxy has a natural cycle of events, our solar system has a natural cycle of events, our planet has a
natural cycle of events, our sun has its own natural cycle of events that also influence the earth to a greater or lesser degree dependent upon many
factors, one of which is, where both of those are in their own cycles.

The weather has natural cycles of events, our Icesheets have natural cycles of events and if you were 10,000 years old you would be saying, so what?,
it happens.

Of course everything has a natural cycle of events but they happen on scales of thousands of years. The changes we are seeing in decades should be
happening over centuries. Climate change (whether natural or man-made) will have a massive impact on our way of life. So we can either ignore the
possibility we are impacting the Earth, do nothing and cause unnecessary struggle for us and generations to come OR suck it up, stop polluting the
planet to limit negative impacts on our way of life in the future.

This news story or conversation isn't about whether this has happened before, or whether its man made or natural. It's happening, and it's going to
have a profound effect on all of our lives. Smugly stating the obvious doesn't change that.

Originally posted by The X
Oh noes nature is doing its thing, OMG it's all our fault.

The Universe has a natural cycle of events, Our galaxy has a natural cycle of events, our solar system has a natural cycle of events, our planet has a
natural cycle of events, our sun has its own natural cycle of events that also influence the earth to a greater or lesser degree dependent upon many
factors, one of which is, where both of those are in their own cycles.

The weather has natural cycles of events, our Icesheets have natural cycles of events and if you were 10,000 years old you would be saying, so what?,
it happens.

It has a way of naturally getting rid of us too, especially when we are poking, prodding, and raping our home that's ALIVE!

Take out my blood and see if I live.

Time is like a circle. History will continue to repeat itself until we get it through our thick skulls that we are living in a place that should be
taken care of with care and compassion.

Of course everything has a natural cycle of events but they happen on scales of thousands of years. The changes we are seeing in decades should be
happening over centuries. Climate change (whether natural or man-made) will have a massive impact on our way of life.

How do you know the scale of changes??

I have a proposition for you. What if the "great flood" was a Very quick melting of the ice from about 12,000 years ago?

What if Energy is being added into the system? Volcanoes and Earthquakes seem to be increasing. What if that Energy Cloud the solar system has just
entered has... wait for it... ENERGY.. Add energy = Movement = Heat..

The fourth or was it fifth world that was destroyed by water? The next is said to be destroyed by Fire.

I don't like pollution though so lets get rid of that, but you guys are missing the point. Carbon Dioxide Started Life here, and when carbon dioxide
levels get really high it's time for plants to Rule, and then Oxygen Levels get very high which then means higher energy and much Bigger animals can
live ie Dinosaurs..

I havn't seen any good proof that humans are to blame for the warming. All everyone thinks is that now we are producing all this carbondioxide and
also now temperature is rising.. That is NOT proof. Other things are happening right now as well. I have looked for the proof but all they prove is
global warming, NOT, man made global warming.

We are not looking at ONE cycle. the cycle of the whole solar system spinning around the galaxy means that HUGE changes can happen when we get to
different points in space. We are traveling like what 66,000 miles an hour already relative to the solar system. Add on the speed of the Solar system
itself and we can get into other areas quite quickly..

Plant some trees if you are so worried. Paint the top of your house white.. Don't drive your car, or mow your grass. Careful if you breathe too. Shut
off all the electricity in the US.. Or build a 1,000 more nuclear plants inside the US. Stop using all metals especially steel and Aluminum. Don't use
plastic. Don't by any manufactured items or Anything from china. Blow up society. Tax everyone, make them your slaves. When you get cold don't burn
any wood or oil or gas.. In fact fire should be illegal. Don't use any paper products we need those trees ya know. Get off your computer. Stop reading
my words you are burning coal by reading this. We have gone too far and the only solution would be to stop all society and let 6 billion die. then
clean up.. That's the alternative to continuing on the same path and killing us off later. It's one or the other, truly.

By the way if we were causing global warming I would expect to see rain being much more acidic these days. You know the relation here right?

The Earth doesn't care about climate change. It will continue on for many more cycles of human destruction. I don't think people understood what the
show "LOST" was about. The Island is Earth. The dark guy and the blond guy the brothers one "evil" one "good".. They were talking as the next batch of
humans began again on earth.(a boat comes to the island)
"here they come"
"all they do is cause destruction and chaos. it's the same everytime."
"but everytime it gets a little bit better."
"they still always destroy everything, so what's the point?"
"progress"

Back to the point about the energy... We are in for one Hell of a ride.. I am here to survive. Or I am here to finish paying the price of life.. It's
ok though. Life isn't the only game in town.

Not to mention that with less ice and more sitting water there will be an increase in insects such as mosquitos, and the larger, more dangerous,
predatory insects such as spiders, etc. There will be a lot more vegetation growing without cold temperatures to keep things in check, and VIRUSES!
Lots of viruses will be around without colder weather to keep things in check.

Tipping point? You betcha! Additionally, with the massive influx of solar activity this year into next things will be that much more bad. Storms
will get worse, people will get more and more sick from the viruses, plant life and insect/ animal life will increase in numbers and size, and mankind
will be screwed!

Not to sound like a fear-monger however, this is the way it seems that things are headed.

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